People Who Need People
by Starrcrost
Summary: LupinTonks. Yet another take on what happened between the hospital wing scene and the funeral. I attempted to make this as in character as possible, so if you're tired of reading out of character fics, definitely give this one a look.
1. Stalemate

_Disclaimer: Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling. I'm just speculating with her worlds and characters and plots._

_The title comes from the song "People" from the musical "Funny Girl." I semi-explained the relevance and then lost the explanation in an uploading glitch and consequently got very annoyed. Oh well. I will explain it later if I can, even though it has little explanation. It was more on a whim, because I had no idea what to title this. Anyway, this is not important. Read on. It will be a 3-chapter deal, with two more parts to go, so this is to be continued._

Nymphadora Tonks suppressed a yawn. Hagrid's entrance into the hospital wing and news that Dumbledore's body had been recovered, and that the students had been ushered back into bed, had broken some of the charged atmosphere in the hospital wing. She and Remus Lupin had quickly volunteered to do a quick patrol of the school, making sure no student was out of bed for any reason and that nothing suspicious was still about. They had gone off in opposite directions; she hadn't seen him since. She had scouted her half of the school until Minerva McGonagall had finally accosted her in one of the deserted corridors and insisted she'd done enough for the night, practically ordering her to go to the staffroom and get something to drink.

As Tonks let herself into the staffroom, she saw with surprise that there were no members of the staff there at all; instead there was Remus Lupin, sitting at a table drinking tea and staring rather blankly at the wall opposite him. He started at her entrance, and they looked at one another for a moment without speaking.

"Tea?" he asked quickly, breaking the awkward silence. Not waiting for an answer, he seized the teapot and poured out a cup, his hands shaking slightly. He handed it to her.

"Thanks." She took the cup and sat down at the table. They sat there sipping their tea in silence for a few minutes. Finally she set down her cup and took a deep breath. "Remus, I -"

"There is no need to apologise," he said with a wry smile. "Surely you can't believe you owe me anything of the sort."

She bit her lip. "It's true, I'm not sorry for what I said. I meant it all; I don't care a Knut about any of your excuses and you know it. But I am sorry for the time and place and - circumstances...blurting it out in front of everyone right then, it wasn't the best form. But I couldn't help it." She made a funny sound as though attempting a laugh. "Sometimes my tongue is as clumsy as the rest of me, you know."

Remus shrugged. "I deserved it," he said. His tone was somewhat light, but he was stirring what was left of his tea carefully and didn't look at her.

"Remus, you deserve happiness, " said Tonks bitterly. "When are you ever going to realize that?"

He didn't answer, and they drained their teacups to the dregs in silence.

"Are you staying at Hogwarts?" he asked abruptly, after a while.

She shook her head. "I'm going back my place in Hogsmeade, until the -" She let the sentence hang, but he knew what she meant.

"There will be a lot of people coming into Hogsmeade in the next few days."

"I know. I'd rather stay here, I don't really fancy seeing a lot of other Ministry people, but I'm still supposed to be stationed there." She paused. "Are you staying here?"

He nodded. "For now. Until -"

"Yeah."

They fell silent again. A minute later, the door opened and Minerva McGonagall walked in, her eyes slightly red. She glanced at the pair sitting in silence at the table. "Nymphadora, if you would like to stay here at Hogwarts -"

"No, that's okay," said Tonks quickly, standing up. "I should really get back to Hogsmeade, I still have a post there."

The new headmistress glanced again at Remus Lupin, whose expression was unreadable. "Then we will see you soon."

She nodded. "Tell everyone to take care." She stopped at the door and added, "Goodbye, Remus."

He nodded. "You take care too."

"I'll try." And with that she left, closing the door behind her.

_Questions? Comments? Please review. Thanks...next installment will be longer than this one, I promise._


	2. Acceptance

The evening before Albus Dumbledore's funeral, Tonks was sitting in her flat in Hogsmeade, her thoughts on the day to come, when her doorbell rang. It was late in the evening; she wondered suspiciously who would be calling at this hour. Not many people came to call on her anymore - because, she thought wryly, they suspected she didn't want them to. She went to the door and was about to ask who was there, but she refrained from the action and, as was her usual procedure, peered through the tiny peephole that always enabled her to see the entirety of the person outside the door. One look was all she needed to recognize the visitor, and throwing Ministry precautions to the winds, she wrenched the door open. "Remus Lupin!" she exclaimed. He stood there in the hall just outside her door, looking as tired and gaunt as she had seen him last. "Is everything all right?" she asked quickly, with sudden fear. "Has anything -"

He shook his head with a small smile. "No, no, just thought I'd drop by for a few minutes. Everything is - in order, that is, as much as it can be right now. I hope it's not too late?"

"Of course it isn't," she said, with a shaky laugh. "I didn't know how much I would be able to sleep tonight, anyway...come in."

"I see you rebel against your own procedures," Remus remarked, his brow creasing slightly. "You've just invited me in, while neglecting to ask me any revealing questions." His tone was serious, but the way the corners of his mouth twitched betrayed him.

"Get in, " she said with warmth, pulling him in and shutting the door behind him. "Fancy anything to drink? I _had_ a whole bottle of firewhisky," she said mournfully, "but I spilled it all over the kitchen floor last evening."

"No, thanks, I'm all right," he said.

"That's okay, then."

They looked at each other awkwardly for a moment. "Do you want to sit down?" asked Tonks.

"Yes, thank you."

They sat down in the little sofa against the back wall of the room. Remus noticed that many coffee stains had been left in the cloth, although a simple spell could have gotten rid of them; the effect, he considered, was not wholly inartistic.

"All the rooms for rent in Hogsmeade are booked," said Tonks. "I don't know when it's ever been so full."

"Many people are coming to pay their respects," said Remus softly.

"A lot of the Ministry people, though," she said, frowning, "Scrimgeour's crew, and people like those, the way they're talking right now...they're more _scared_ that he's gone than...sad, or upset, or anything. It's just - not as though they really _care_."

"I know."

"It must be very different at Hogwarts," she mused. "There, they all...you can feel it in the atmosphere, can't you?"

He swallowed. "Yes, it's been hard for the school; for the teachers, but also for the students. Dumbledore was the sort of man who endeared himself to people, even if he tried to stay detached. In his affection for Harry, for example. He let certain people get too close to him, perhaps." "

"What would you expect him to do?" asked Tonks sadly. "Distance himself from those he loved because he was afraid something would happen? I think he knew enough about the power of love to know that's the wrong way to go about it."

He was silent for some time, and then looked sideways at her pale face framed in mousy brown hair. "And you feel you share this wisdom?"

"I have enough proof of how love becomes a protector."

_Protector_. Remus thought painfully of Patronuses. "Tonks, please listen to me."

"Don't you go giving me your old excuses again," she said warningly. "You're not too old, you're not too poor, and you're certainly not too dangerous. We've gone through that enough times."

"I wasn't going to say that," he said slowly. "It's just that we were talking about Dumbledore...and I've been thinking...I've - lost a lot of people, you know that." He swallowed hard. "It's not that they were only my losses - quite the contrary, in fact - but they were all the people who were willing to be close to me. James and Lily, and Peter betraying them...Sirius, lost once to treacherous betrayal and found, only to be lost again...now Dumbledore...I can't have that happen again, I - you must understand that. I couldn't bear that pain again."

To his utter astonishment, she smiled. "Remus, that's the first selfish reason you've given me."

"The first - what?"

"You've exhausted all your noble ones. This means it's your last dish attempt; you've resorted to trying to make me feel guilty. Well, I don't, and I won't."

He laughed in spite of himself. "Nymphadora Tonks, you are utterly unbelievable. I've never known anyone so stubborn and unrelenting."

"Remus, _you_ are the most stubborn man I've ever known."

"Two stubborn people aren't good for each other."

"Not if they both have what they want already." She cocked her head at him. "What _do _you want, Remus? You came here for a reason, you can't deny that."

"You know very well what I want," he said sharply. "I want - _you_, but I -"

"But what?"

He closed his eyes and leaned back against the sofa. "I can't argue anymore."

"You can't or you won't?"

He opened his eyes and smiled tiredly at her. "Does it really matter?"

"No," she said with a sound midway between a laugh and a sob, moving closer to him. "You've finally realized that, haven't you?"

"If you say so." He made to sit up a little straighter, but she chose that moment to kiss him, pressing him back against the sofa. He didn't resist it.

"Perhaps I ought to be going back," he murmured after a while, but without any apparent intention of doing so.

"It's past midnight by now," she pointed out. "You needn't bother."

"We should get some sleep before tomorrow, though."

"I know." She yawned and nestled against him. "Earlier this evening, I was convinced I wouldn't be able to sleep anyway."

"So was I." He sighed and touched her forehead lightly with his. "But life goes on, I suppose."

She kissed his nose. "It always does."


	3. Death and Life

Remus opened his eyes slowly, blinking at the bright sunlight that streamed through a nearby window; it took him a moment to remember exactly where he was. He felt a warm pressure on his left side; Tonks was curled up against him, asleep. With a sudden jolt of bemused delight he realized that the head resting on his shoulder was no longer mousy brown, but a vivid bubblegum pink. He shifted slightly to look at her, turning slowly so as not to wake her. He thought she must have felt his eyes on her, however, for after a few minutes she opened hers and smiled sleepily up at him.

" 'S it seven-o'-clock yet?" she murmured groggily, raising her head from his shoulder.

He sat up straighter and checked his watch. "Twenty past."

She rose quickly from the sofa and stretched. "C-coffee okay?" she asked on a yawn. "Or do you want tea?"

He shrugged. "Whatever works best for you. Coffee's fine."

Tonks disappeared into the small kitchen, and after two quick minutes of loud clattering noises she emerged with two steaming mugs. She handed one to Remus and sat down beside him on the sofa.

"Perhaps we ought to drink somewhere else," he suggested, glancing again at the coffee stains on the sofa.

She wrinkled her nose at him. "I happen to think they make the sofa look nicer. Don't you?"

He hid a smile. "Well, why don't we give the kitchen table its share of the goods, then?"

They were sitting at the tiny kitchen table across from each other, sipping their coffees in comfortable silence, when the doorbell rang. "Who could that be?" said Tonks with a slight frown, jumping up and going out of the kitchen.

"More likely you came to see if I was awake," Remus heard her retort with a laugh a few moments later. "Come in...have something to drink?"

"You know better than to ask that question," growled a familiar voice.

"Mad-Eye, do you _really_ think I would try to poison you?"

Mad-Eye Moody stumped into the small kitchen after Tonks. "Morning," he said brusquely, nodding at Remus. He didn't look very surprised to see him there. "You all right?"

Remus nodded. "I'm fine, thank you."

His good eye still looking at him, Moody's electric blue one swivelled onto Tonks' pink hair. "For once, Lupin, I might believe you when you say that." He sat down at the table, stretching out his wooden leg with a groan. "Was just thinking," he said rather gruffly, "that we should all go to the funeral together. Early, if you can be ready quickly enough."

They met many of the others by the Hogwarts lake: Kingsley Shacklebolt, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Bill, Fleur, Fred, George. Tonks settled into a chair next to Moody. Remus sat down on her other side and took her hand; he felt her lace her fingers through his. None of them talked much as they waited for everyone else to arrive. They all came at last - the students, the teachers, the Ministry officials, and all the rest - and the grave ceremony began. A collective shiver seemed to go through the crowd when Hagrid walked up the aisle carrying the body wrapped in purple velvet - a shiver, Remus felt, that was all the more pronounced juxtaposed against the strangely sunny warmth of the day. Hagrid had placed the wrapped body carefully on the marble table in front of them and retreated down the aisle; someone was speaking in front of Dumbledore's body, but Remus wasn't listening. He was thinking of the man who had trusted him when no one else would, the man who had believed in him and been there for him ever since the day he agreed to let a young werewolf attend his school. Something in his throat tightened, but he didn't cry; he never cried at funerals, only (if he was granted some mercy) afterwards. Ever since James and Lily's...he remembered that day, sitting there, wanting, _needing_ badly to cry; but all he could feel was a terrible, lonely emptiness. It was that emptiness that he had felt at all funerals since then, an aching sense of being left alone again and again, an icy world in which no one could reach him or touch him...

He felt a warm pressure on his hand. Tonks was looking at him, her eyes overbright. "You okay?" she asked, squeezing his hand again.

He smiled tiredly at her. "I'm fine."

They watched in silence as flames erupted around Dumbledore's body and left a white marble tomb; the centaurs gave their tribute and, as did the merpeople watching from the water, disappeared. It was the cue for many of the people to rise and begin to disperse, though a few of them stayed in their seats, some holding each other and crying, some staring blankly at the tomb in front of them. Remus was doing the latter; he had let go of Tonks' hand and was now fingering the hair on the back of her head absently. She leaned over. "I think it's time to go," she whispered into his neck.

"Yes," he said absently, but he didn't move, and neither did she. After a few moments, he said abruptly, still gazing at the tomb, "I think he _would_ have been happier."

"I think so too," she agreed. "I think he would have been happier to see this - not the sadness or the crying for his sake - but people, his students for example, united, bonding with and comforting each other. It's times like these, most of all, when people need people. I guess that's why in the midst of death there's always more life and love then we would imagine."

He looked rather startled."In the midst of death there's life," he said slowly. "That's a - strange thought." He looked down at her thoughtfully for a moment; then he kissed the top of her pink head gently, adding into her hair, "And it's intensely comforting."

_So I think this might be the end...and I got to fit in the title, which is a good thing, heh. If, however, I have cravings, I just might write more...perhaps a nice smutty night-after-the-funeral chapter? ;) Hehe. We'll see._


	4. Author's Thanks

_Sorry this isn't a real chapter...I just wanted to thank everyone who reviewed this story, because I haven't yet, which is, of course, abominably rude ;) . You all are so awesome. Well, I decided not to do another chapter - I started to, and decided that it was ruining the effect - so this story is complete. However, I have written another little thing about Remus and Tonks, so (shameless plug here) check it out if you want - it's called Intolerant Law._


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